Actions Have Consequences
by SeaSpectre160
Summary: The after-effects of the Antares technique are more severe than Stinger had anticipated.


**Because there's no way Stinger should have been completely fine, physically, after using Antares. He has to have spent a significant amount of time with his own venom running through his bloodstream, and yet he seems to be in perfectly good shape right after Scorpio removes it. Let me ask you a question: if you get, say, acid or hot oil splashed on your hand, and you rinse it off an hour later, does that magically heal the burn? NO! It's established that Stinger was getting very close to death when Scorpio saved him, so there had to have been some sort of damage remaining. Plus, he took Scorpio's 'Rider Kick' imitation – which has previously _killed_ another bad guy – to the gut, and somehow survived. That _had_ to leave a mark!**

 **And he _was_ basically suicidal for a month or so, starting from Space 16 up to the end of Space 20. But since this is a kids' show, they didn't really touch on that much.**

 **This fic shares continuity with my earlier work 'Scorpling', and another fic called 'Someplace Safe to Rest Your Head', which should be up next week.**

 **DISCLAIMER: I don't own Kyuranger or any of its characters. They belong to Toei.**

 **TRIGGER WARNING: Brief discussion of suicidal thoughts and depression.**

 **WORD COUNT: 3,120**

* * *

His hands are shaking.

That's the first thing he notices when the shock starts to wear off. He can't get the uncontrollable tremors to stop.

Then it's the pain, the burning ache that runs throughout his entire body. He's positive that he's also got a huge bruise on his stomach from when Aniki slammed his knee there to subdue him. And probably a bunch of other bruises from both that fight and the one after it, but that will definitely be the worst.

He feels like he's going to fall over with every step he takes, but he does his best to hide it all. They need to find the _Argo_ and use whatever secret power it holds to stop Jark Matter from blowing up the Earth. When he, Kotarō, Champ, and Lucky manage to summon the ship and board it, however, that gets a little harder with the bobbing motion that the ship is making as it floats on the water.

Eventually, he stumbles and bumps into the wall, and that's when the other three take notice. "Oi, Aibō," Champ asks him, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine…" he says, but clearly no one believes him. He can't hide it, now, the grimace of pain on his face, or the fact that his legs are about to give out underneath him and he can't even stand up straight.

Kotarō runs over, looking worried. "What's wrong?"

It's pretty much pointless to lie at this point, so he sighs and answers honestly. "I'm not sure. Everything hurts…"

"Is it Antares?" Lucky asks, and Stinger fears, for a brief moment, that his brother didn't get all the venom out. That he's still dying, just more slowly than he was earlier.

Kotarō gasps and grabs onto Stinger's arm, clearly thinking the same thing.

"Could be," Champ agrees, "If you've had that venom in you for a long time, then it could have done some damage to your body before Scorpio extracted it."

Stinger sighs. "Probably. I started hurting the second I started using it, but Antares also gave me the extra strength to fight through the pain. Now…" He chooses to slide down and sit on the floor before he actually collapses. Kotarō kneels beside him, still clinging to his arm, with an expression of panic on his face. "Just go on. I'm just a liability, at this point."

Champ doesn't have any actual facial expressions due to having a metal face, but he manages to look uncertain, anyway.

"I'll stay with him," Kotarō immediately volunteers, "And if any enemies come and try to board, I can fight them off."

Lucky and Champ reluctantly agree, and turn and head further into the ship. That leaves Stinger and Kotarō alone to talk.

Stinger sighs again. "If you're mad at me, just go ahead and say it."

"You could have died." Kotarō's voice is quiet, but he may as well have shouted it. "You _were_ dying by the time any of us could get to you. And _Scorpio_ is the only reason why you aren't!" He looks and sounds close to tears. "I was so scared. I thought I was going to lose you, today."

Stinger reaches up to where Kotarō is still clutching his arm, and the kid grips his shaking hand. "I- I'm sorry, Kotarō." And he is. Truly, he is. He's not used to having someone else depending on him; he was the younger brother, always the one being protected. And in reverse, he knows that Kotarō has spent _his_ little brother's entire life being the protector. So this is new territory for the both of them. And he's suddenly aware of how much Kotarō would have been hurt with him dead and gone. Even with the support of the others, Kotarō has claimed _Stinger_ , of all people, to be family to him. He didn't do that with any of the other Kyurangers. For the life of him, Stinger can't figure out why (he's easily the most damaged and flawed of them all), but that's the way it is. "I'm so, _so_ sorry."

Kotarō doesn't respond with words, but by pressing his face into Stinger's shoulder, and then Stinger sees drops of clear liquid running down the water-resistant sleeve of his jacket. Kotarō's definitely crying, now, squeezing his hand tightly. "Please don't leave me, Aniki," he whimpers through the tears.

* * *

They sit like that for several minutes, then Lucky and Champ come back out, and _they're not alone_. A man follows behind them – or, at least, he looks like a man once he pushes back the obscene amount of hair hanging in front of his face out of the way – seriously, the stuff is covering his entire upper body, and probably the rest of him under the leather pants he's (thankfully) wearing. The man gives them a curious look, but Lucky just tells him: "It's a long story." and the guy seems to accept this, for now.

Despite the rest he's gotten while sitting and waiting, Stinger still needs Champ's help getting off the _Argo_. He doesn't think he can stand on his own, anymore, let alone walk. So he leans on the android and watches in shock as the self-proclaimed 'Legendary Saviour' single-handedly wipes out all those Moraimarz that Scorpio had summoned. So it wasn't the _Argo_ itself that Don Armage was worried about; it was actually this guy, who's apparently been sleeping there for who knows how long (Champ mutters an explanation involving a cryo-sleep pod and Lucky being _way_ too eager to press big, red buttons without knowing exactly what they do).

After the unknown man takes off, the Kyurangers all regroup back at the _Orion_. Champ literally drags Stinger to the infirmary, picking up an annoyed Raptor on the way. Kotarō follows, while Lucky stays behind to keep the masses at bay.

Raptor's pretty miffed at Stinger for poisoning her and Garu earlier today (he apologises), but is quick to get the infirmary's equipment ready when she sees the sorry state he's in. Once he's situated on one of the beds and the machines have scanned him, Raptor reads the results. "You've got some pretty bad bruising around your stomach area," she reports, "as well as some cracked ribs, and there's some muscle and nerve damage… everywhere. And you have small traces of a neurotoxin in your blood."

"Like his own venom," Champ guesses, putting his arm around a worried Kotarō.

"The traces are miniscule. And according to these scans, some of the damage is at least a few hours old. I think it started the moment you used Antares."

That's consistent with their earlier guesses. "Aniki's going to be okay, though," Kotarō insists faintly, "Right?"

Raptor nods. "Our technology will be able to heal the damage, but it will take some time." She puts the tablet away. "I will let everyone know. The Commander will want to… debrief you about what happen today." And they all know that by 'debrief', she means 'lecture'. "But I will tell him to wait until you've gotten some rest, first." Her own lecture will probably follow shortly after.

* * *

It still hurts when he wakes up an unknown amount of time later. Raptor made him take something for the pain, and to his dismay, they were the kind of pain meds that put him to sleep within minutes. He muttered something at her before passing out, something that he probably shouldn't have said around Kotarō, but he was angry. It just goes against everything in him to allow himself to be that vulnerable, and she _knows_ it.

Not that his current state is that much better. He's so weak, he can barely lift his arms, although the nerve and muscle damage that Raptor mentioned earlier might be a factor there. The infirmary's healing laser… things… he's not sure what they're actually called… are passing over his face over and over again. Raptor, before drugging him, said that she wanted to focus on his head and torso first, healing any damage to his brain and other vital organs before moving on to his limbs, so she made him take off his scarf, jacket, and both shirts, revealing the horrific bruise on his stomach that's so dark, it looks like it was painted on. Raptor's opinion is that he's lucky to not have any severe internal injuries.

He shivers; it's cold in here, like the rest of the whole damn ship besides his room. And he _hates_ feeling so exposed, so vulnerable. The one benefit to the drugs is that he slept through… however long it's been… without having any nightmares. And that's a rare thing for him. A _very_ rare thing.

A slight noise to his left draws his attention to that side. Champ is sitting on the bed next to him, and Kotarō is curled up on that same bed, his team jacket covering him like a blanket as he sleeps. The room is dimly lit, giving Stinger the impression that it's now nighttime, and the android's eyes glow slightly in the low light.

"Hey, Aibō," Champ grunts, obviously keeping his voice down for the kid's benefit, "How are you feeling?"

Stinger winces. "…Don't like these damn drugs," he complains.

Champ huffs. "Really? You come in here looking like you fell down a steep hill and hit every single rock on the way down, and the first thing you complain about is the stuff that makes it hurt less?"

"I've felt worse." And really, Stinger thinks Champ is exaggerating, but when he thinks back to just how many bruises he's got, he's not exaggerating by much. "Are you mad at me, too?"

"I'm not mad at you, Aibō. Annoyed, maybe, but not mad. You couldn't have waited until I was back online instead of going off on your own?"

"I didn't…" He swallows. "I didn't know if you were going to come back online or not. The techs weren't sure…"

"But I _did_ come back. I'm right here, see?"

* * *

Champ was _not_ pleased when he woke up in the android maintenance labs at Rebellion HQ, and was quickly informed that Stinger had gone on what was essentially a suicide mission to stop Scorpio. So despite the techs insisting that he wait for them to do another systems check, he marched out of there took a small Rebellion craft, and set off on a direct course for Earth.

He didn't even realise how bad it was until it was all over. Lucky pulled him aside right after Scorpio's death and explained what Stinger had done. It had been a _literal_ suicide mission. Those strange red and black marks on his face had been a sign that his life was running out even as they spoke. Stinger had _poisoned himself_ to try and give himself an edge over his brother, and that hadn't even worked. He had gone into that fight _intending to die_.

This is something they need to deal with. Champ fully intends to get more details from the others, later, to see if any of them had any idea that their own teammate had become suicidal. He's already asked Kotarō, and the kid had no clue. This does not surprise Champ; Kotarō is young, and while he's been fully aware that Stinger was blaming himself over the whole mess, he wouldn't know what signs to look for. Even now, Champ isn't sure how much Kotarō understands. Maybe it's better if he doesn't.

But for now, Champ wants to talk with Stinger directly. "You really did scare all of us today," he says quietly.

Stinger waits a while before responding. "So I've heard."

"But you don't believe it?'

"I… I believe it. I just don't understand it."

That brings Champ up short. "Why?"

"Because… Because it's not like I've really been part of the team. Sure, I fight with you guys, but I know I don't exactly do any of the 'team bonding' stuff. I figured, if any of us was the… expendable one-"

" _Expendable_?!" Champ has to check over his shoulder to be sure his outburst hasn't woken Kotarō before turning back to deal Stinger in a hushed whisper. "Do you seriously think you're _expendable_?!"

Stinger doesn't respond verbally, not right away, but his face screws up in a way that suggests that he's fighting tears. Champ takes a moment to look over his partner again; aside from the almost-black bruise that he says is from getting kicked in the stomach and knocked out barely a minute after using Antares, there's a scattering of other bruises from both fights, and a ring of still _more_ bruises around his waist, which look like marks from a length of chain. And in the centre of his chest are two tiny, scabbed-over puncture wounds, each surrounded by more bruising. Those must be from when he injected himself with his own venom, and when Scorpio added his own. But even as Champ has been sitting there, the smaller bruises have been fading, and even the big one looks slightly less horrible. Raptor said that the infirmary's tech won't make them disappear completely, however, and that the rest of the healing will have to happen naturally.

"I should've died _years ago_." The response is so quiet, Champ almost misses it. "I was the one of few survivors after my village was massacred. Aniki didn't kill me, even though he had a lot of chances to do so. Then I spent all that time chasing rumours and the dead bodies he left behind. And then I found him here, and… dammit, I should've ended it then. But I wouldn't listen to you, even after the promise I made on Mika's grave…"

Champ remembers that. Remembers Stinger vowing to defeat Scorpio right after they buried the half-human girl.

"Just one lie from my brother, and I threw that promise away. I told him about the _Argo_. And you nearly got killed… when he was going to kill me. There's so much I should have done that would've meant that less people would have gotten hurt. I figured that… this was my penance."

* * *

Stinger doesn't think he's talked this much since… well, since the night his brother looked him in the eye, punched him in the face, and then began to slaughter all his friends right in front of him. He just doesn't understand how they can't see the obvious: that since that night, everyone who gets involved with him and his brother gets killed. Death follows the two of them wherever they go, and Stinger would rather be killed himself than let another teammate be caught in its clutches.

"Stinger… You can't put all the blame on your shoulders. Yeah, you made some bad choices, but you didn't _make_ Scorpio lie to you. You didn't _make_ him try to kill you. And you didn't make him do anything else."

But he did. "He's always protected me, ever since I was a little kid. To do that, he had to become stronger, the strongest person in our village. He became obsessed with power. That's why he turned to Jark Matter in the first place. If I'd just been able to take care of myself-"

"Are you _serious_?!" Champ's interruption makes him jump. "You really think it's _your_ fault he joined them?!" The android stands up, moves closer, and gets right in his face. "You need to _stop_ blaming yourself for things that aren't your fault. You were a _child_ , and he was your _brother_. He was _supposed_ to protect you, no matter what."

Stinger knows he's staring at Champ like he's seeing the android for the first time, but he can't help it. When he and the few survivors from their village made their escape, the others made it clear that they blamed him for everything. He was Scorpio's brother, after all. The one who should have known that he was up to something, and the one who should have stopped it.

Stinger parted ways with them almost immediately after.

Champ sighs. "You do this all the time, don't you? Blame yourself for everything that goes wrong? That's really not healthy."

That has Stinger sighing in confusion. "Why do you care?"

Champ's quiet for a short while before he answers the question: "Because we're a team, Aibō. It's what we do."

* * *

Champ somehow manages to convince Stinger to take another dose of painkillers, and he sleeps without dreaming until morning. The lack of dreams is something that he's grateful for, at least, though no one can possibly know _how_ grateful he is, how bad his nightmares usually are, or how frequent they are (and by 'frequent', he means 'every damn time he shuts his eyes').

When he wakes up, he has to deal with the Commander's lecture before he's even had breakfast. It's not as bad as he expects, but he has a feeling that the Resistance leader is going easy on him because he's already suffered quite a bit for his actions. The strangest part is where the Commander then apologises to _him_ , saying he handled the aftermath of Champ's almost-death poorly, that he never should have sent Stinger away during a time when he needed to be surrounded by friends.

Kotarō never leaves his side. Stinger's never had any real experience with being the one someone else was relying on. He's always been on the other end of that scenario. He thinks of how lost he felt when Nii-san first went off to fight Jark Matter's forces; one time, it had been reported that his small squad had suffered heavy fatalities, with no names specified. Stinger had been a mess of anxiety until his brother had come back home, alive and relatively unscathed. He could actually imagine pretty well how Kotarō had felt when Stinger was at death's door.

The others mostly skirt around the topic, but Stinger gets the feeling that they're trying not to make a big deal out of it and upset them. The only one who addresses it directly is Naaga, who assures him that he does not blame Stinger for his injuries at Scorpio's hands.

So he tries not to make a big deal out of it, himself. He doesn't let them see when he has flashbacks to the attack on his village, or to when he was being controlled by his brother's venom. He hides just how badly his bruises and the after-effects of his own venom are still causing him pain. The pain medication he's been prescribed help him with that, and they also help keep the nightmares at bay, however temporarily.

Until he has to go to sleep without them, and the last of his secrets comes out.

THE END

* * *

 **This will pick up with my next story, 'Someplace Safe to Rest Your Head', which will be posted tomorrow.**


End file.
